Tasting Notes

The nose presents sage, blackberry, and olive, while chocolate and sweet cherries are present on the palate. Brambleberry and smooth tannins carry the finish.

Winemaker Notes

Eight tons of Cabernet Sauvignon were harvested on November 4, 2014 (22 Brix, a TA of 10.7, pH of 3.21). It was crushed, de-stemmed, pumped to four wooden 1-ton bins and cold-soaked for two days. The bins were inoculated and the fermentation lasted for six days with temperatures that peaked for a single day at 83F on the 5th day of fermentation. It was pressed on November 12, 2014, with the press fraction kept separate. Both the free run and press fraction lots were racked to barrels on November 14, 2014 and inoculated with bacteria two days later for malo-lactic fermentation, which finished by mid-December. The wine for the base of the Cabernet Sauvignon blend was all in 2nd-use French oak barrels, one with medium toast, one with medium-plus toast and two with heavy toast.

The Merlot fruit was harvested on October 30, 2014 (22 Brix, 8.2 g/L TA, pH of 3.35) and the Cabernet Franc on October 30 2014 (21.4 Brix, 6.9 TA, pH of 3.28).

The wine was blended on August 10, 2015 with nine months of barrel age. After chilling for one week to 35F, it was coarse filtered off the tartrates on August 18 and 24, 2015 respectively. Sterile filtering and bottling was done on August 29, 2015.